Toy baseball game



Dec. 31, 1929. l C, w, wRlGHT 1,741,596

TOY l BASEBALL GAME 3 Sheets-Sheet l WUSLINQM -zlaxo '9mm BRTTING Dann. wsu-mc, un@

I N VEN TOR.

ATTORNEY.

Dec. 31, 1929. C, w, WRIGHT y 1,741,596

TOY BASEBALL GAME Filed Feb. 5. 1927 5 Sheets-Sheet 2 4 gli Y ATTOR EY.

Dec. 3l, 1929. c. w. WRIGHT 1,741,596

TOY BASEBALL GAME Filed Feb. 5, 1927 's sheets-snm4 s INVENTOR.

m QW ATT RNEY. L

CIL

Patented Dec. 31, 1929 UNITED STATES PATENT FFEC CARR W. WRGI-IT, OF CINCINNATE, OHIO TOY BASEBALL GAME Application filed February 5, 1927.

My invention relates to a toy baseball game in which is simulated every signiticant event in a real game.

In all toy baseball games heretofore devised, there has always been a lack of realism both in appearance and the happening of simulated events. The element of chance alone has controlled the procedure and nothing was present to stimulate mental interest in the national and most popular sport. My invention is designed to eliminate such objectionable features and create a lasting desire in both young and old to learn more about the game and test their knowledge and skill in playing the same.

The principal object of this invention is to construct a toy baseball game in which the participants may use their knowledge of the game and test their skill in selection of procedure they may wish players to follow. This affords users of this toy the same kind of pleasure they get when they are spectators or participants in a baseball game.

Another object of this invention is to obviate the necessity of the users being able to read, after the simple rules are understood. Consequently very young children may participate.

Another object of this invention is to provide a gaine which will both in appearance, and in method and result of operation be so realistic as to create and stimulate intense interest and instill a greater desire in the imaginative mind of a young` participant to learn more about this sport.

Another object of this invention is to provide a toy which will strengthen the reasoning power of the participants mind and create a greater imagination.

Another obj ect of this invention is to provide a toy baseball game in which the happening of the simulated events are in proportion to those in a real game.

1With these and other objects in view, the invent-ion is constructed as will hereinafter be more fully described.

In the particular embodiment ot my invention selected for illustration:

Figure l is a perspective of the device made in the form of an open topped box, assem- Seiial N0. 166,159.

bled for use showing a baseball grounds represented on the bottom of the box with openings in the bottom thereof. The miniature figures representing participants in the gaine are shown in their customary playing` positions and a runner is leading oitl from first base.

Fig. 2 is a cross-section on the 4line 2-2 of Fig. l.

Fig. 8 is a top plan view ot' the disc which is to be placed under the boX bottom. Upon the top surface of the disc are vrepresented characters simulating Isignificant events in a baseball game,

Fig. l is a top plan View of the device, the periphery of the disc being shown in dotted lines, and certain of the characters on the disc being shown thru appropriate openings in the box bottom.

Fig. 5 is a front elevation of one of the igures representing a participant in thev game,

Fig. 6 is a rear elevation of the same ligure,

Fig. 7 is a plan View of the score card to be used herein, and

F ig. 8 is a perspective of one of the covers used in covering certain of the openings in the box bottom.

Referring now to the drawings, and particularly to Figs. l and ll, the baseball grounds are represented on the top surface of the bon bottom A, and are enclosed by a fence a; on which are advertising bill boards a3. H is a hole representing home plate, F a hole rep resenting lirst base, S a hole representing second base, T a hole representing third base, al the base line area, and a2 the foul lines, C is a hole representing the catchers position, p a hole representing the pitchers position, U a hole representing the umpires position; F PZ is a hole representing the iirst basemans playing position, S PZ a hole representing the second basemans playing position, T PZ a hole representing the third basemans playing position, S S a hole representing the short stops playing position, R PZ a hole representing the right lielders playing position, C PZ a hole representing the center fielders play ing position, and L PZ a hole represeriting the left lielders playing position. F H is a hole in which may appear an index meaning that the striking of a certain pitched ball has resulted in a foul; and a* is the hole through Which passes the turning knob K hereinafter described. Each of the holes representing bases, playing positions and the foul hole is at a` different distance from the center of rotation.

The revolving disc D shown in Fig. 3, has on its top surface a large number of characters designating possible events in a ball gaine. Fach of these characters may register With and be seen thru one and one only of the openings ieretofore described.

lNithin the annular area d are all the characters which Will appear in the opening in the center fielders playingy position C PZ, shown in Fig. 4t. Wlithin the annular area Z1 are all the characters which will appear' iny the opening in the left fielders playing position L PZ. All the characters shown in the annular area (Z2 Will be shown thru the half of the opening at the catchers `position C which is more distant from thecenter. All the characters shownin the annular area Z3 appear in the half of the` vopening at the catchers position Which is nearer the center. All the characters appearing in the annular area d4 register witlrt ie opening'at the right fielders playing position R PZ'. Allthe characters shown in the annular areas (Z5 and CZ, which may for most purposes be considered together as one area,appear in the opening H at home plate. All the characters shown in the annular area d? appear in the foul opening F H. All the characters appearing Within the annular areas (Z8 and (Z9 are shown in the opening at the first base F. All the charactersrepresented on the annular area 10 are shown in the openingV at the first basemans playing position F PZ. All the characters shown in the annular area t 11 and i12 appear in the opening at thethird base, T. All the characters shown in the annular area Z13 are shown in the opening at the short stops playing position S S. All the characters appearing in the annular areas d and el are shown thru the hole S at 2nd base. All the characters shown on the annular area d1 appear in the opening at the third basemans playing position l PZ. All the characters shown on the annular area d appear in the opening at the second baseinans playing position, S PZ. All the characters shown on the annular area d are shown thru the opening at the pitchers boze P. All the characters shown on the annular areas (Zw, alzo 6521 and (Z22 are revealed in the opening at the umpires position,

A hole at is provided in the center of the boX bottom'A, thru which extends theknob K. A screw Dl extends upwardly thru a Washer DE and the center of the' disc D' and secures the knob K to the top'surface of' the disc, securing all parts together in such a manner as to enable the disc D to be rotated by the knob K.

To play the game, the openings F, S, T, C and U are covered with any suitable pieces as the covers M, and all the other openings remain uncovered. The participant or participants who represent the outs or. those in the field, revolve the disc by rotating the knob K.

If When the disc comes to rest the letter B appears in the opening at home plate it indicates'that the result of the throwing of that particular ballby the pitcher and the action or inaction of the batter' with relation thereto has resulted in the umpire calling a ball, and if an S appears that a strike7 has been called. If the letters S P show at the home plate a strike has been called and 'the catcher has missed or dropped the ball. Simultaneously with the appearance of this mark there will also appear under the covered base openings and at the catchers position opening certain characters. The offensive or batters side, .the ins will declare Whether or not they desire a base runner to proceed to asucceeding base. The defensive side or outs Will then indicate Where the catcher is to. throvvthe ball, .being governed in the decision by the action of the offensive side on the bases. The base to which the ball is assumed to be thrown is then uncovered. lf red appears in this opening `the runner has been caught and is out; if White' appears, he is safe.. Suppose the lletters S P appear at the home plate opening and it is the third strike. on the batter, the batter is assumed to attempt to gain first base before the ball reaches that base. If the defensive side elect to attempt a put-out at first base in preference to a put-out at any of the other bases, fi-rst base is uncovered. Ify red appears 'the batter is out, if White appears he is safe, lf the defense elects that the ball is to be thrown to a base other than first, the batter is assumed to have reached first base safely. 1f the color red appears thru the opening at home plate it indicates that the pitched ball has been struck by the batter. Simultaneously there will appear in one of the openings representing one of the playing positions of a defensive player, or in an opening Where fouls register, marks indicating Where and hou7 the ball Was hit and how it Was fielded. f the letter F appearsfin the foul opening, it indicates that the batter has hit a foul strike or a foul-ball Which has hit the ground before recovery byA one of the defensive players. However, if the color red appears in the foul opening, it indicates that the batter has hit a foul ball which has been caught by one of the defensive players before it touched the ground. If the red appears at-the home plate opening andthe letter G appears at one of the infield playing position openings, it indicates that a grounder has been hit by the batter to that particular infielder. We will assume for illustration that the letter G appears in the opening at the playing position of the third baseman as illustrated in Fig. 4L of the drawings. It will be noted that at each of the base openings the character shown thru the outer portion of the hole is red, indicating that the first throw to any base would have retired the runner, if attempting to gain suchl base. In the inner portion of the opening at first base appears the numeral 2 upon a white background. This indicates that if the third baseman fielded the batted ball and threw it to the second baseman who then threw to first base, the numeral 2 inentioned above indicates that the runner at first was retired. If, however, the third baseman had thrown to either third or home on the play from which base it was relayed 'to first, the runner going to first would have been safe. If red appears at the home plate and simultaneously red appears at one of the infield playing positions, it indicates that an infield Hy has been h'it and caught before touching the ground, putting the batter out. The markings under the base openings have a slightly different meaning from those in cases previously described, in that, the markings in the outer portion apply to the circumstance of a defensive throw to a given base to catch a base runner assumed to be off base, red meaning that the throw was successful and white unsuccessful. The inner portion applies to the circumstance of a runner proceeding from the preceding base on the fly; red meaning out and white meaning safe.

t is the privilege of the offensive or batting side, at any time that it has a runner on base, to declare that such runner is attempting to steal a succeeding base. The defensive side then may declare a throw in an attempt to put out the runner. The success or failure of such throw islascertained by uncovering the opening at the umpires position. t will be noted in Fig. 4 that provision is made for each of the bases other than first, the decision governing, being that opposite the appropriate mark such as 2nd7 if the runner were stealing second base. It is theprivilege of the defensive side when there is a base runner on base to declare what in baseball aarlance is declared a peg throw to catch a runner off base. The success or failure of such throw being governed by the portion of the markings under the umpires hole U opposite the word Peg.

- If red appears at home plate and also appears in one of the outfield playing positions, such red mark will indicate that a fly has been caught before striking the ground and that the batter is out. Such red mark will also bear a numeral which will establish the distance in feet that the ball is assumed to have traveled before being caught. The

markings underl the bases in the case of a fly to an outfield, apply in the manner similar to those already described for an infield fly. The purpose of the distance mark is to enable the offensive side to decide whether or not to advance a runner on a fly-out.

If red appears at home plate and white appears in one of the outfield players positions, together with a numeral such as l, 2 or 3, a hit .is indicated for the indicated number of bases. If H R on a white background appears at such outfield position, a home run has been made. At such times the offensive or batting side declares how far it is advancing the base runners who may have previously reached base. The defensive side in turn declares to what base it is throwing. This base is then uncovered. If a numeral appears therein, the meaning of such numeral is that if the runner started from the base indicated by such numeral he is out, but if from any other base he is safe. Runners who have been declared by the offensive to be proceeding to bases other than that to which the throw is made, are automatically safe.

Whenever the characters red and S appear together at home plate, and any of the first four batters in the line-up are batting, the batter is credited with the hit indicated simultaneously in one of the outfield openings and the play is completed by the offensive and defensive elections above described for safehits but whenever' one of the last five batcharged with a strike which the catcher has caught.

lt can be seen readily that substantially every play possible in a real ball game may be simulated with this toy. The simulated events are preferably so correlated as to happen in subtsantially the same proportion as they do in real games. l

It' the front View of a player, such as shown in Fig. 5 is pasted to the back view such as shown in Fig. 6, back to back, the semi-circular tabs X and X1 may be bent outwardly in opposite directions 90 degrees forming a support for the figure representing the player. The .completed figures when appropriately placed on the grounds serve to more realistically simulate a. real ball game in playing with this toy.

A score card frame Z has a row of vertically placed openings e for each inning f to be played, and these openings also form horizontal rows, one for each player. There is a frame for each side, and the card on which the score is to be kept is placed and held behind the frame while the score is being` kept. The score card enables the user of this toy to keep track of the batting order, for the purpose liereinbefore described.

lVhile I have described in considerable detail a specific manner of carrying out my iiii invention as limited to the details set forth, eX-

cept in so ifar'as such limitations are included in the terms of the claims, in Which it is my intention to claim all novelty inherent in my invention as broadly as is permissible in View ot' the prior art.

I claim as my invention and desire to secure by Letters Patent of the United States:

l. A toy baseball game having in combinan tion, a plane upon Which is represented a baseball grounds, openings thru said plane each at the outer end of a radius of different length from all the others measured from the central point, said openings collectively representing bases, customary playing positions and umpires position, a disc'parallel With said plane and visible thru said openings, characters indicating events in a baseball game, said characters arranged in annular groups on appropriate radii corresponding to radii of said openings, the central point of the disc and plane radii in registry with each other, means for securing said plane and disc in rotatable relation to each other, and means for covering certain of said openings.

2. A toy baseball game having in combination, a plane upon which is represented a base ball grounds, openings thru said plane each at the outer end of a radius of different length -from all the others measured 'from the central point, said openings collectively representing bases, customary playing positions and umpires position and indicating fouls, a disc parallel With said plane and visible thru said openings, characters indicating events in a baseball game, said characters arranged in annular groups on appropriate radii corresponding to radii of said openings, the central point of the disc and plane radii in registry with each other, means for securing said plane and discl in rotatable relation to each other, and separate means for covering the first base, second base, third base, umpires position and catchers playing position openings.

3. A toy baseball game having in combination, a plane upon which is represented a base ball grounds, openings thru said plane each at the outer end ot' a radius of different length trom all the others measured trom. the central point, said openings collectively repre` senting bases, customary .playing positions and umpires position and indicating fouls, a disc parallel with said plane and visible thru said openings, characters indicating events in a baseball game, said characters arranged in annular' groups on appropriate radii corresponding to radii of said openings, the central point oi' the disc and plane radii in registry with each other, means for securing said plane and disc in rotatable relation to each other, each group of said characters so placedthat each character therein may register With and appear thru an aperture in said boX bottom.

Ll. A toy baseball game having in combination, a plane upon Which is represented a baseball grounds, openings thru said plane each at a radial point of different distance `from all the others measured from the central point, said openings representing bases, customary playing positions and umpires position, a disc parallel With said plane and visible through said openings, characters indicating every possible event in a baseball game, said characters arranged in annular groups on appropriate radii corresponding to radii ot' said openings, each character arranged to appear at the opening Where the simulated play is made, the central point of the disc and plane radii in registry With each other, means for securing said plane and disc in rotatable relation to each other, and means for covering certain of said openings.

5. A toy baseball'game having in combina `Y tion a plane upon which is represented a baseball grounds, openings through said plane each at a radial point unequal to all the others measured from the central point, said openings collectively representing bases, customary playing positions, and an umpires position, and indicating fouls, a disc parallel with said plane and visible through said openings, characters indicating events in a baseball game, said characters arranged in annular groups on appropriate radii corresponding to radii ot saidV openings, and so placed as to appear at anopening showing the result of any play made at that place, the een? tral point ot the disc and playing' radii in registry With each other, means for securing said plane and disc in rotatable relation to each other, and separate means for covering the lirst base, second base, third base, umpires position and catchers playing position openings.

In testimony whereof I have hereunto set my hand.

CARR W. WRIGHT. 

